‘The Sociology of Wisdom’

Davies, Douglas J.

Abstract

Eileen Barker is to sociology rather like those holding chairs ‘in the public understanding of ‘science’, and it has not been unusual to hear her professional comments on religious trends or some new ‘cult’, as the media put it. Travels, publications, presence at seminars and activities of the INFORM network have all made her a familiar figure among fellow professionals. In her ‘Confessions of a methodological schizophrenic’—the catalyst of this Festschrift chapter-she acknowledges that, in her work on the Unification Church, she ‘learned much that was wise and helpful’ in a task that inflicted severe and conflicting demands on ‘cognition, intellect and affect’ (Barker 1978:87, 70). While such facts of social scientific life, well known to field researchers, do not easily succumb to formulaic chapters on research method, they alert us to the topic of this essay, viz., the notion of ‘wisdom’ as applicable both to social scientists in relation to the wider public and to those they study. This we pursue by seeking an ideal-type of ‘wisdom’, by comparing it with that of ‘charisma’ and by using as an example the office of Archbishop of Canterbury.

Citation

Davies, D. J. (2003). ‘The Sociology of Wisdom’. In J. A. Beckford, & J. T. Richardson (Eds.), Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker (185-195). Routledge

• Publication Date: Jun 19, 2003
• Deposit Date: May 22, 2025
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 185-195
• Book Title: Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker
• Chapter Number: 17
• ISBN: 9780415309486
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3959097
• Publisher URL: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203299432/challenging-religion-james-beckford-james-richardson
• Additional Information: In the last half century new religious movements or cults of one sort and another have mushroomed throughout the US and Europe. Increasingly these groups have been met with attempts to monitor and control them on the part of the state, and concerns about the protection of religious 'consumers' have been set against the democratic right to religious freedom. In this collection, leading sociologists of religion from the UK, US, Western and Eastern Europe debate the political, practical and ethical issues which arise from these changes in the religious landscape.